45-614. Setting groundwater withdrawal fee; statement entered in record; statement transmitted to state treasurer; notice; payment; penalty

A. The director, not later than October 1 each year, shall set the groundwater withdrawal fee for each active management area for the following calendar year. In setting the fee, the director shall comply with the requirements of section 45-611, subsections A and C and shall consider, among other things:

1. The estimated financial requirements for the next fiscal year.

2. The estimated amount of groundwater which will be withdrawn in the active management areas, except the Santa Cruz active management area, in the next calendar year.

3. The estimated amount of water, other than stored water, that will be withdrawn from wells in the Santa Cruz active management area in the next calendar year.

4. The amount of monies collected from groundwater withdrawal fees in the preceding calendar year.

B. The director shall enter in the records of the department a statement of the estimated financial requirements for the next fiscal year and a statement of the groundwater withdrawal fees for each active management area for the next calendar year, itemized to show the amounts to be levied for administration and enforcement, augmentation, conservation assistance and monitoring and assessing water availability, Arizona water banking and the purchase and retirement of grandfathered rights. The director shall transmit to the state treasurer a copy of the itemized statement of the groundwater withdrawal fees.

C. Within thirty days after the director sets the groundwater withdrawal fees for the next calendar year, the director shall give notice of the fees by:

1. Giving written notice to the clerk of the board of supervisors of the county or counties in which the active management area is located and to the mayor of each city or town, to each private water company and to the presiding officer of each political subdivision established pursuant to title 48, chapter 17, 18, 19 or 20 and located in the active management area.

2. Written notice to all holders of groundwater withdrawal permits in the active management area.

D. A person who, under section 45-604, subsection B, is not required to use and does not use a water measuring device to measure withdrawals made pursuant to a type 2 non-irrigation grandfathered right or a groundwater withdrawal permit shall pay an amount equal to the groundwater withdrawal fee set by the director for the calendar year multiplied by the number of acre-feet of the grandfathered right or the groundwater withdrawal permit.

E. The groundwater withdrawal fee shall be paid to the department at the time the person withdrawing the water files a report on annual withdrawals pursuant to section 45-632. If a person who is required under section 45-611 to pay a groundwater withdrawal fee for calendar year 1985 or any subsequent calendar year fails to pay the fee for the calendar year in question on or before March 31 of the following year, the director may assess and collect a penalty of ten per cent of the unpaid fee, without compounding, for each month or portion of a month that the fee is delinquent. The total penalty assessed under this subsection shall not exceed sixty per cent of the unpaid fee. The director shall transmit all penalties collected under this section to the state treasurer for deposit in the state general fund.